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Scooped by
Jeff Domansky
June 27, 2017 11:24 AM
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In marketing circles, we tend to rely on things like flow charts, diagrams, and pyramids. But according to Hausmann, that’s no way to tell a story. “You wouldn’t summarize a trip by saying, I’d like to show you a couple of the key message points and summarize those for you in a beautiful pyramid and diagram,” he says. To close the time and efficiency gap between the typical (and boring) marketing strategy language and creative execution, bringing a screenwriters’ toolkit into the process can make a world of difference, according to Hausmann. At #ThinkContent Summit 2017, he provided step-by-step instructions for “brand scripting,” which he defines as identifying a company’s core brand narrative and building the story structure that aligns all executional efforts. Take a look at Hausmann’s script for content marketing success, illustrated through the brand Beats by Dre....
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Scooped by
Jeff Domansky
April 19, 2017 10:52 AM
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In September of 2013, the late David Carr, skeptical of the burgeoning native advertising tactic that was back then “all the rage,” wrote a column titled “Storytelling Ads May Be Journalism’s New Peril.” Three months later, the Times jumped into the fray. Today the company boasts a fully-fledged content marketing arm, T Brand Studio. Adam Aston, vice president and executive editorial director of the Studio, said when it was first launched, there was a sense of anxiety among the Times’ newsroom, as well as advertisers, that the content they created wouldn’t be up to par with its editorial content. “We were really mindful from inception to approach it as fact-first, narrative-first, with a strong story, strong characters,” he said at a recent panel event, hosted by MediaRadar in New York City, about the future of native advertising. “From inception, whether we were making the simplest stories we could three or four years ago, to today, where a lot of what we’re making is a three-ring circus of interactivity, like VR and AR, we’re still driven by the same thought that the story, the quality of the reporting, finding authentic people, much in the way that our newsroom inspires readers – we want to do the same thing.” Here are five tips from the panelists for using native advertising....
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Scooped by
Jeff Domansky
April 1, 2017 11:37 AM
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When Pixar storyboard artist Emma Coats tweeted out 22 storytelling tips, something interesting happened. It was as if the curtain was lifted to reveal the heart of a mysterious, magical, and inspiring player in filmmaking, and many screenwriters (I was one of them), treated this small collection of advice as a lost book of the storytelling bible. Stephan Vladimir Bugaj, who has spent 12 years writing and developing stories at Pixar, has now shared his eBook in which he expounds on each tip. Continue on for the link to the free download.
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Scooped by
Jeff Domansky
February 22, 2017 3:56 PM
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Stories enable us to build personality and create a connection with consumers. But can we actually tell a story on social media? Is it possible to narrate a story with social media posts that are supposed to be short and sweet? It turns out there are many ways to use social media for storytelling! In this post, I’m sharing 20 actionable ways to use social media for storytelling.
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Scooped by
Jeff Domansky
February 8, 2017 11:26 PM
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Lindsay Smith shares her incredible insights into how National Geographic Travel is able to utilize the power of storytelling to propel the brand into new heights – continuously going where others aren’t able to go on social media. You’ll also learn some cool things like: - How Nat Geo Travel curates all of their amazing photography on Instagram
- The success metrics that Nat Geo pays close attention to on social media
- Why Nat Geo Travel’s stories are able to reach the massive audience that they are
- The key components to every great story on social media...
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Scooped by
Jeff Domansky
January 27, 2017 8:32 PM
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Using NewsWhip Analytics, we found the top 10 stories from five of our top 10 Facebook publishers in December 2016. NewsWhip Analytics can give data on hundreds of stories from different publishers over various time periods, allowing audience development and analytics teams to perform in-depth analysis on their most successful content.
We ranked the stories by total engagements they received on Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn and Pinterest, and then calculated the average word count for the top ten stories. We didn’t include headlines, subheadings, pull quotes, or calls to action within the story (‘Read More’, ‘Scroll down for video’ etc) in the word count.
Here’s what the average length of the top ten most engaged stories from five top publishers were in December....
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Scooped by
Jeff Domansky
November 28, 2016 2:10 AM
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Below are three quick PowerPoint tip videos for upleveling your presentation template. How to Set Up a Grid System Grid systems are often used in print and online media to provide a consistent structure to visual communications. Utilizing a grid system in a presentation can allow elements to be displayed in consistent locations, facilitating the absorption of information. In addition, a grid can serve as a guide for employees creating presentations, helping them to know where to place design elements. This helps a company achieve a higher level of consistency between presentations and slides, giving an overall organization to the company’s visual communication. How to Set Up Color Chips in PowerPoint Color is a crucial part of a brand’s visual expression. A consistent treatment of your brand’s colors will help to make sure that people are able to “lock” their positive experiences to your brand’s specific visual cues. While many companies have corporate colors selected for various pieces of collateral, it is imperative that those same colors find themselves into the presentations, as often those presentations are used in key decision making engagements. Rather than simply trying to encourage people to use the right colors, update your template’s color palette so that the company’s colors are within easy access of each user by placing the colors in the presentation’s default color chips. How to Set Up Default Design Elements in PowerPoint In order for your employees to create presentation graphics that are on-brand, you need to provide them with tools which will facilitate this process. Often, when presentation templates are created, there are lots of example shapes, lines and other elements which people can use as starting points. But one easy way to help people create graphics that align with your look and feel is to set the default shapes, lines and text box formatting so that on-brand elements will be produced whenever a person generates a new shape, line or text box....
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Scooped by
Jeff Domansky
November 15, 2016 3:19 AM
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Every great marketing campaign relies on being able to communicate your story, whether that be the story of your brand or the products or services that sit at the center of your company. However, brand storytelling is becoming the foundation of many content marketing campaigns and for a good reason. A powerful, creative and insightful way of providing that coveted personal connection between company and customer, if incorporated correctly, storytelling offers a progressive strategy that has the potential to strengthen your brand, drive sales, enhance customer loyalty and in turn improve retention. At first glance the science of storytelling may appear to be fairly straightforward but as is the case with all marketing tactics, ensuring this natural love every human is hardwired to have a good story concisely communicates your brand message isn’t as easy as many marketing professionals make out. The power of storytelling, however, is right there for the taking, and by following these golden rules, you can transform your marketing plan or your client’s for the better....
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Scooped by
Jeff Domansky
November 2, 2016 6:43 PM
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In addition to the Discover, Create and Engage modules, we have included a guide for journalists that will explain how to get started on Facebook or simply grow your presence. We’ve heard from journalists that they need more information when deciding between setting up a Page or a profile and about how to manage privacy settings. The “Getting Started” course seeks to answer all of those questions and covers key steps for building out a professional journalistic voice on the platform, including how to apply for the Facebook blue badge that indicates verification.
In the coming weeks, we will also commence a series of webinars on the site which will be tailored to journalists who are both new and old to Facebook. These webinars will be organized according to new products and features, a person’s level of experience using Facebook as a journalist, and their role (newsgatherer, content creator, or audience engagement specialist)....
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Scooped by
Jeff Domansky
November 2, 2016 3:12 AM
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No matter what you do, no matter your profession is; entrepreneur, marketer, designer, small business owner; our job is always to tell our story. The way your business grows, the way you sell products, the way you make money and a real impact is through authentic and powerful stories. We’re all storytellers, but that doesn’t necessarily mean that we can all tell great stories. Yet. So to give you an insight into the art of storytelling – the art of telling your brand’s story – I’ve put together the 27 most inspiring quotes that will teach you how to become a better storyteller....
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Scooped by
Jeff Domansky
October 9, 2016 2:31 AM
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One of the most common challenges I hear from business leaders and marketers is this: “We have a hard time telling our story”. They have a desire to tell people who they are and why they’re important and yet they stumble when trying to explain this in a way that’s interesting or engaging. In essence, they have no idea how to tell their story — they are not interesting, so people are not interested. So, what’s the secret? How do you tell your story so people actually care? Here are 5 ways to start telling stories that people actually care about:...
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Scooped by
Jeff Domansky
October 7, 2016 2:05 AM
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“You will live 7.5 minutes longer than you would have otherwise, just because you watched this talk. ”This was the claim that video game designer Jane McGonigal presented to the crowd during her June 2012 TED talk. As the camera panned over the members of the audience, their faces showed universal skepticism: Was this lady serious? There was something else interesting about that crowd. Despite their doubtful visages, everyone in the audience was drawn in by McGonigal’s words. No one was checking their email, talking to their neighbor or looking at the camera circling in front of them; all eyes were fixated on the (potentially crazy) speaker. Great hooks, like McGonigal’s provocative opening statement, get audiences on the edge of their seats and give them a sense of what’s coming. They allow you to win a crowd’s attention right away and give you a legitimate chance to have a lasting impact....
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Scooped by
Jeff Domansky
September 20, 2016 11:19 AM
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We know there are lots of things to consider when planning a multimedia story, from the structure it will take and the media to include to the overall experience you'll create. So before you set off on your next storytelling adventure, we hope the checklist below will help bring all of these factors together, and ensure your final story has a great structure, engaging flow and use of media that will truly bring the story alive. If you'd like to keep it close at hand, right-click on the checklist below to save it to your computer. Then you can always print it out and pin it to your wall, so it's always there as a reminder. We created the checklist using infographics tool Piktochart, and uploaded it to this story as a PNG using the Media Section in Shorthand. Et voila!...
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Scooped by
Jeff Domansky
May 11, 2017 1:20 AM
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Storytelling and visuals are two of the most powerful tools content marketers have. Both of these attributes can help get ideas across more effectively and increase engagement. Combining these two elements—well, that’s a recipe for success. How can marketers go about creating a successful visual story? Luckily, there are plenty of tools available to help you take a marketing yarn and weave it into a beautiful visual. Here are 11 of the top software programs, websites, and more for creating your visual content marketing stories....
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Scooped by
Jeff Domansky
April 15, 2017 10:55 PM
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Breaking the fourth wall happens in performance when an actor (improviser, comedian, etc.) interacts with the audience and brings them into the performance. It creates the “we.” It says to people that there is no wall between us and the audience. And, in the corporate space, it signals that there is no wall between the company and its customers.
Truly, there isn’t—there is only the shared “we.” Improvisers (I am a businessperson and an improviser) know this well. Without your best customers, you have no brand. They own the brand, so it’s time to let them in on where it makes sense. As I said to the attendees at the Visual Storytelling Institute Conference when I gave my keynote, “When you break the fourth wall to engage your audience, you create magic.” Because when you allow people to participate in the direction of the experience as it happens, you create a shared experience of “we.”...
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Scooped by
Jeff Domansky
March 29, 2017 1:00 AM
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When an author set out to tell a story in years past, he or she typically did so on paper, a typewriter or by typing at a computer.But today, storytellers find imaginative ways to share their ideas with interactive and visual elements. On modern mediums like Twitter, Vine, YouTube and other mobile applications, storytellers are crafting tales in ways that would have been unfathomable a decade ago. Offline, too, authors have begun rethinking the traditional concept of the book in ways both innovative and unorthodox. Might a story be better understood as a set of machine parts? How might destroying a book actually bring its messages to life?Here are nine ways authors are revolutionizing the way stories are told....
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Scooped by
Jeff Domansky
February 20, 2017 2:54 AM
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Let’s not kid ourselves. Telling a compelling story about your business or brand on social media is exceptionally difficult. Social media posts—with their character restrictions and limited screen real estate—are not ideal for expressing brand promises, values, and philosophies with any real detail or emotional impact. This is why many marketers supplement their social media strategies with a content marketing strategy as a means of including long-form content. Thankfully, the major social media platforms recognize that this issue exists, and have taken strides to incorporate content formats that are optimal for telling better brand stories. This article will discuss three such content types...
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Scooped by
Jeff Domansky
February 1, 2017 7:44 PM
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During November 2016, HubSpot launched a free Content Marketing Certification course. The course offers 10 classes covering the following topics:
- Understanding Content Marketing (class length – 14:41)
- The Power of Storytelling (class length – 24:55)
- Generating Content Ideas (class length – 15:29)
- Planning a Long-Term content Strategy (class length – 19:00)
- Building a Content Creation Framework (class length – 20:11)
- Becoming an Effective Writer (class length – 22:48)
- Extending the Value of Your Content Through Repurposing (class length – 24:47)
- How to Effectively Promote Content (class length – 22:07)
- Measuring and Analyzing Your Content (class length – 26:19)
- Developing a Growth Marketing Mentality (class length – 20:24)
The free certification course is designed to provide foundational principles needed to become an effective content marketer....
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Scooped by
Jeff Domansky
January 6, 2017 1:04 AM
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Throughout my career, long-form content has always been an important part of my marketing strategy. And most of the radically successful entrepreneurs I know also use long-form content. Coincidence? I don’t think so. I know what you’re thinking: “But how can I write these humongous articles? I don’t even know where to start.” If you have an idea for an article in mind, that’s enough to get started. All you need is an idea, some time, and good Googling skills. Over the years, I’ve honed the process of writing long-form content that works for any topic. It’s so easy to learn, I bet you’ll finish your first 3,000+ word article within a few days....
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Scooped by
Jeff Domansky
November 26, 2016 4:34 AM
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In the dark-dark city, on the dark-dark street, in the dark-dark office, there was one dark-dark company, but no one knew about it because the company couldn’t tell people about itself… Modern information consumers want more than just data. People of this generation are used to getting accessible news, ideas, information, and knowledge; they know the tricks and cannot stand importunate marketing. The more promotional lines they see in a text, the faster they stop reading it. That is why storytelling is a great idea for any marketing campaign. People love stories. They are thrilled to read about something similar to what they’ve experienced, to delve into one’s dirty laundry, to see love stories, etc. Storytelling can be a very powerful tool for content creators. They can influence people’s emotions and get those precious likes and shares....
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Scooped by
Jeff Domansky
November 14, 2016 1:39 AM
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August, Interpol arrested a 40-year-old Nigerian con artist, known only as “Mike,” who was the alleged mastermind of an email scam cartel that swindled over $60 million from victims around the world. Mike operated various email schemes including the infamous “Nigerian Prince” ruse, which elaborately establishes a heartbreaking and potentially profitable tale before asking for money. The prince scams are a case study in the power of storytelling. Before asking for money, the con artists weave intricate tales that appeal to people’s emotions. While these scammers tend to prey on the gullible, like this 63-year-old Nebraskan woman who lost over $40,000, the more elaborate variations call on astronauts or London gallerists to target people who may be more sophisticated. In fact, as Maria Konnikova told Contently in an interview about the dark side of storytelling, intelligent people are the most vulnerable to investment fraud. According to another new book, Denying to the Grave: Why We Ignore the Facts That Will Save Us, they’re also more likely to join cults. Our predisposition to believing good stories comes down to human physiology and psychology. We’re wired for well-told narratives. They can be so alluring, enticing, and transformative that they can cause even the smartest readers to change their minds, relinquish money, and see the world through someone else’s eyes. Even though credibility counts for a lot, you ultimately must make an audience feel things to compel action. It’s a frustrating reality for scientists and statisticians, who often try to persuade people with authority and numbers. Statistics may seem irrefutable, but they can hurt a cause, priming people to think analytically, which increases skepticism and decreases the likelihood for action....
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Scooped by
Jeff Domansky
November 2, 2016 6:36 PM
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Facebook is training journalists through online courses. What does this mean for publishers and content creators?
Facebook is joining the likes of Khan Academy and Coursera with “e-learning courses for journalists”. Four courses are offered so that reporters can learn how to use Facebook’s products and services to enhance their content.
We decided to try out them out. Beyond the material itself, the lessons reveal insights about how Facebook sees the future of publishing and content. The current selection of courses goes over how journalists can:
- best utilize Facebook and Instagram,
- engage their audience with Facebook Live,
- create immersive storytelling through virtual reality (360) content,
- and produce Instant Articles...
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Scooped by
Jeff Domansky
October 9, 2016 3:07 AM
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Today, if you’re not telling a story that captivates your audience, you simply won’t be heard. Video storytelling is most effective when the story being told is relevant to the brand, entices viewers to change their behavior, and motivates them to buy a product or service. Hitting this trifecta is no easy task, but with the right strategy, video can ultimately become your most powerful marketing medium. Who ever thought a soap company could create a campaign that revolutionized the way women — and, really, the entire world — defined “beauty”? When done right, one short digital clip can go viral and motivate viewers across the globe to change their outlooks and behavior. Let Your Story Do the TalkingEvery brand story must include three key ingredients:...
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Scooped by
Jeff Domansky
October 7, 2016 4:10 AM
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You stare out of the window for inspiration. You reread your post. Nothing comes to mind. Sigh. What more is there to say? You don’t want your post to fizzle out with a few drab sentences. A bland paragraph at the end could wreck your whole blog post. But how can you come up with something truly inspirational?...
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Rescooped by
Jeff Domansky
from World's Best Infographics
October 6, 2016 10:56 AM
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Have you ever gotten a sense of déjà vu while reading a book or watching a movie that’s otherwise totally new to you? Obviously you have— so many stories are built on the same foundations of archetypes and tropes. Stripped of complexities, all stories are basically the same: an individual ventures into the unknown to acquire something they desire.
That’s not a new idea— Joseph Campbell broke the door down in 1949 with his book, The Hero With a Thousand Faces. Odysseus, Christ, Captain Ahab, Gautama Buddha, Jane Eyre, Luke Skywalker… different names and faces, different times and places, but all the same story. Not only that, the same effective story. What Campbell called “The Hero’s Journey” has resonated with humanity for millennia, and is the root for so many stories that we cherish.
So why wouldn’t this apply to public speaking? Any muttonhead can tell you that good speeches tell a story. This infographic will show you exactly how Campbell’s 17 Steps can lead to storytelling success. It doesn’t matter if you want to discuss Martin Luther King’s march to Selma, why you deserve a raise, or Walking Dead plot summaries. The Hero’s Journey can apply to almost any presentation.
Via David Hain, Jeff Domansky
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Clay Hausmann, CMO of Aktana, on using screenwriting techniques to create more engaging, compelling content marketing.